Essie Leathers Collection

One of my Christmas gifts to myself was this mini set from Essie, the Leathers Collection by Rebecca Minkoff, with four leather effect polishes: Cross-Body Heat, Tote-ally in Love, In Hot Purse-uit, and Back in the Saddle.



Cross-Body Heat is a greyed light warm-toned purple shimmer.



Cross-Body Heat was opaque in two coats and dried to a very slightly textured satin finish. The shimmer was pretty much invisible on the nail in most lighting conditions.



I wasn't that taken with the "leather finish", so added topcoat to shine it up. I liked that better, and the shine did seem to bring the shimmer out a bit more.



Tote-ally in Love is a wine red shimmer.



This had the same sort of slightly textured satin finish, which I didn't like any more than I had the first time around, so I added topcoat to the two coats of color. The shimmer in this is a bit less subtle than Cross-Body Heat, but still pretty hidden.



In Hot Purse-uit is a deep blue shimmer.



I did two coats of color plus topcoat for my swatch. The shimmer in this was more visible than the first two shades, which I liked.



Back in the Saddle is a deep green shimmer.



I did two coats plus topcoat for this one as well. It was the most shimmery of the group, and my favorite.



I also did a nail art bonus: Cross-Body Heat dotted with Tote-ally in Love and In Hot Purse-uit.



This is a nice collection, all Karen colors. I'm not sold on the leather finish; it's too subtle for my taste and doesn't look intentionally textured. I do also wish all four had the shimmer level of Back in the Saddle. Still, I'm glad I bought these.